Dog Park Retro

💡 What is the template about?

This is a dog-themed retrospective template built around the Five Whys technique. It includes a fun icebreaker where team members identify with dog breeds that reflect their personality or work style, followed by a main retro focused on digging into root causes in a playful, engaging way.

🎯 What it helps you achieve

This template helps agile or scrum teams:

• Reflect on challenges in a psychologically safe and lighthearted environment

• Identify the root cause of an issue using the structured “Five Whys” method

• Spark creativity and humor through a highly visual and relatable theme

• Build team connection through a personality-based icebreaker

👥 Who would benefit from it the most?

• Remote or hybrid agile teams

• Scrum Masters looking to vary retro formats

• Teams experiencing fatigue from traditional retros

• Pet-loving teams or teams open to a more playful tone

• Newer teams seeking a bonding experience

🛠 How to use it

1. Kick off with the Icebreaker: Use the “What Dog Breed Are You?” section to have team members drop a picture or emoji of the breed that best represents them. Optional meme chart included!

2. Collect Issues: In the “Puppy Training School” section, gather all pain points from the sprint under the “Issues” column.

3. Vote & Prioritize: Use dot voting to choose the most important issue to explore.

4. Run the Five Whys: Step through each stage:

   • Why 1 – Ruff Start?

   • Why 2 – Still Chewing?

   • Why 3 – Sit, Stay, or Stray?

   • Why 4 – Digging Deeper

   • Why 5 – Woof, There It Is!

5. Give Shout-Outs: Use the "Shout outs 🎉" space to celebrate great teamwork.

6. Define Actions: As you finish each issue, move it to the grey “Finished Discussing” box and assign any follow-up tasks in the “Actions” agility course area.